Slide Mountain

Slide Mountain, at 4,190 feet the highest peak in the Catskill Mountains, offers one of the most rewarding summit climbs in New York State via a demanding 5.6-mile out-and-back trail that gains 1,800 feet through ancient boreal forest. The summit region preserves a rare patch of spruce-fir forest typical of far northern Canada, maintained here by the mountain's elevation and persistent cloud cover that drops several degrees below surrounding valleys. John Burroughs, the 19th-century nature writer who lived nearby in the Catskills and corresponded with both Walt Whitman and Theodore Roosevelt, called Slide Mountain 'the god of the Catskill woods' and made the first recorded ascent in 1885; a plaque commemorating his legacy stands near the summit. The trail begins at the Winnisook trailhead on Slide Mountain Road and climbs steeply through northern hardwood forest before transitioning to balsam fir near the treeline. The summit itself is largely forested but a rocky ledge just below the top provides views northeast across the Catskill high peaks toward Hunter and Blackhead Mountains. The Catskills Mountainkeeper organization has worked since 2010 to restore summit vegetation trampled by the millions of hikers who have climbed New York's highest peak.